why are why are you awake? producer john tower, you've got a few good ones. >> i do. biff in new york. i want to nominate louis for an oscar for his inspiring performance on "way too early." kristin also writes, i'm up trying to figure out how "way too early" got chris kattan to guest host. >> ouch! i think of mr. peepers, that guy who ate the apple, like, in four seconds. and louis, i don't have any comments on. chris kattan, really? >> "night at the roxbury." >> i don't even know how to do that. "morning joe" starts right now.

good morning. welcome to "morning joe." it's friday, february 22nd. with us on set, as we take a live look at times square, we have msnbc contributor mike barnicle. with the former governor of pennsylvania and nbc news political analyst ed rendell and the host of "politics nation" and president of the national action network, reverend al sharpton. hi, reverend al. good morning. >> good morning. >> good morning, everyone. >> good morning. it's friday, huh? it is friday, right? >> is it? >> i think it is. the oscars this weekend, academy awards. and of course, hollywood is very excited about this. >> yes. >> louis bergdorf is going to be storming on the big parties. >> he's going to be going all to the fast food joints and stuffing food in his mouth on videotape. >> look at that. see, he's a very healthy boy. so anyway. >> isn't he supposed to be working for us? >> no. no.

he's -- he's having fun. but, you know -- >> did you say he could do that? >> i think anybody in the control room, they'll tell you, working for us is fun. it's the same thing. just joyous, happy people. see, look how happy they are. >> party time. >> it's party time. it's always party time. so let's go through the news. there's a lot going on. >> yes, there is. some of the country's largest retailers and manufacturers are lowering their forecasts, concerned over the economic impact of the payroll tax. "the wall street journal" reports companies ranging from walmart to kraft foods to burger king are changing their strategies for an anticipated downturn in sales. according to citigroup, the 2% tax increase will take out approximately $1,300 of a household income of $65,000. in total, it's expected to take $110 billion away from consumers. walmart is responding by stocking shelves with smaller packages of staple products from

diapers to toilet paper. burger king is dropping prices on the whopper jr. and shifting advertising away from higher priced items to its value menu. what is the value menu? >> i don't know. the value menu is one of the most important inventions since the polio vaccine, but we'll talk about that in a little bit. >> okay. >> mike, you've got both parties that are so blinded to the realities. their ideology blinds them to the realities of what impacts middle-class, working-class americans. you've got republicans that are saying we're going to cut everything right now, sequestration. it's going to slow down the economy. you've got democrats -- you've got the president running around because he only knows how to do one thing, ask for higher taxes. he's leading with the taxes. we've got to raise more taxes. it's the rich, it's the corporations, tax, tax, tax. i thought we had this debate before. democrats don't seem to understand that taxing americans

dampens the economy, hurts small businesses, hurts a lot of americans. republicans don't seem to understand that massive unfocused cuts right now are going to slow down the economy and hurt americans, too. >> you seriously have to wonder whether anyone in washington, in the house, in the senate, in the white house, in the administration, republican, democrat, do they ever go outdoors? do they ever see what happens every day to ordinary americans? people who have been getting crushed economically for the past 10 or 15 years are now getting crushed again, doubly so. the payroll tax has been eliminated. have you checked out the price of gasoline over the past couple of weeks? have you checked out the residual effect on the price of food over the past couple of weeks? this is a killer for people who work hard every day just to stay even. never mind get ahead. never mindset something aside for the future. you know, for the weekend to go to the movies. they get crushed. >> you know why washington doesn't get that? because they live in this bubble

where they're constantly fighting a permanent campaign. they look at their laptops. they read their ideological bloggers. >> this is true. >> they are focused here, and they live in this world instead of understanding, reverend al, that when gas prices go up, when the payroll tax cuts go away, when spending from washington is cut like that in an unfocused way, when taxes go up, all of this works together in collusion against them being able to take care of their families. >> i think the reality is that they are in this ongoing campaign from one campaign to the next. the thing that is so stunning to me is that when we have elections, they just go right to the next campaign. they act as though we didn't just vote about this in november. >> yeah. >> and america rejected some

things and accepted others. and i think there needs to be a balance. but everybody starts from so far in extreme camps. that it's hard to get this together. i think that's what's going on. >> you talked to the president yesterday? >> he did my radio show yesterday. i think the president, his position, which i happen to agree with, no surprise to you, is that he did do some cuts, but that they do not want on the other side to deal with more revenue from the higher echelon or the higher income earners in the country. and when you've got the head of the house, saying we're not putting revenue on the table, where do you even get started with this conversation? and we're seven days away from sequester. >> well, let's take a look. we can take a listen to part of your interview with president obama yesterday. >> my sense is that their basic

view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations, and they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down our recovery over closing tax loopholes. and that's the thing that binds their party together at this point. this is a major argument, obviously, we've been having for the last three years. unfortunately, i think republicans right now have been so dug in on this notion of never raising taxes, that it becomes difficult for them to see an obvious answer right in front of them. >> can i be frustrated here for a second? is that okay with a smile on my face? >> mm-hmm. >> where's he been? where has the -- has the president been vacationing for three months? four months? where has he been? >> he was on the phone with speaker boehner and mitch mcconnell. >> that's what i don't understand.

you know, when republicans folded and raised taxes for the first time in 25 years, i asked on this program, what are democrats going to do now? because they've been saying we need to raise taxes on the rich for a quarter century. so they did. republicans folded. the president got what he wanted. he won. and so i said, okay. so now we get to go to cuts. now we're going to figure out, because the president's never told us where he's going to cut over five years. now we're going to figure out how we're going to actually get some real cuts. and ed rendell, he's talking about tax increases again. tax increases. that's all he's got. paul simon had a song called "one trick pony." that's all he's got. republicans have been one trick ponies for a quarter century. tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. this guy right now sounds out of touch, talking about tax increases. >> or he's trying to restore

some balance. >> there are two things at play. number one, the sad part is there's been a plan for a while that would get us out of this as a country in a fair and balanced way, and that's simpson-bowles. and alan and erskine came out with a scaled-down plan, 4.6, $4.7 trillion. >> you support that, right? >> yes. and our chair supports it very strongly. remember, joe, in fairness to the president, he called for a package to include $1.2 trillion in revenue and about $2.6 trillion in cuts. almost 2.5-1 in cuts. he got 650 in revenue. his position would be, if he were here, i still need to get up to that $1.2 trillion. >> sure. ize rhetorical advice is always it's the rich people. you know, those rich people -- by the way, i say on the show all the time, i support closing

tax loopholes. >> everyone should. >> i'm also talking about sacrifices that all americans are going to have to make as far as spending cuts go. but he goes on the campaign trail, and he says oh, it's the rich. it's the big, fat corporates, the fat cats in the corporations. >> he was for change cpi. he still says he's for change cpi. and change cpi hits our people. he's going to get a lot of grief. >> in a meeting yesterday, he came up and said to those of us that lead civil rights organizations, there are things we're not going to like. it's not like he's just playing to one side here. but i think the governor's point is important. he did not get all that he wanted from the rich. we're talking about the republicans say let's maintain loopholes for yachts and private jets. >> this is not hard. >> as opposed -- i mean, james brown had a song, too, called "the big payback oic." it's time they pay back their fair share, all of it. >> did he refer to entitlements yesterday?

>> all of that is on the table. but he said you've got to deal with those loopholes. >> see, i'm not hearing that. and i suppose if i heard him talking about the serious decisions we had to make on long-term debt, on medicare, on medicaid, on social security, on national defense, you know, he's running around sounding like donald rumsfeld trying to defend the pentagon. like don't cut a single thing, but i'm going to go out, i'm going to keep talking about rich americans. i'm going to keep talking about corporations. i'm going to play to my base instead of talking -- telling middle-class americans they're going to have to make some sacrifices. along with the rich. it's that mika, it's a permanent campaign. and i guess if this is how he wants to run things, he's president of the united states, good luck over the next 3 1/2 years. >> i don't understand why loopholes are even an argument, first of all, why he has to go this far. why he has to keep talking about it. >> hold on a second. >> i know. >> we all agree that these

loopholes need to be closed. >> well, let's do it. why is it so hard? >> i've been talking about supporting warren buffett's idea. >> why are we still talking about it? >> because the president only uses it to demagogue in a permanent campaign. he never talks about the other side of it. he always says oh, it's the rich. >> that would be loopholes. >> don't tax you, don't tax me, tax the rich guy behind the tree. >> steny hoyer stepped up yesterday. >> he did. >> he was amazing. >> he was great. >> he talked about entitlement programs, about getting to the point where you have to address the issue of entitlement programs and cutting entitlement programs. you're not serious about reducing the deficit and the debt unless you talk about that. >> and thomas friedman, "new york times," also had a column this weekend saying we have got to stop stealing from the next generation. we have got to stop robbing nursery schools, for nursing homes. it's what we've been doing. that's what we're going to

continue to do. allen binder, i go back to the princeton economist, who say democrats are wrong on this. we cannot tax our way out of the entitlement crisis. >> well, i don't think that's what the president's saying. >> that's all he's talking about, mika. that's all he's talking about. let's tax the rich. that's going to make everything better. hey, is your back a little sore? you know what? it's the rich folks' fault. let's tax the rich. let's tax the big corporations. >> is closing loopholes taxing the rich? >> i mean, i just want to put this out on the table really quickly. my position on taxing the rich probably is far more, let's say, progressive than most of the democrats that are going to be running for senate in 2014. i doubt they will embrace my idea of a 30% minimum tax rate. so it's not that, mika. >> yeah. >> it's that he's in a permanent campaign. he's playing to the lowest common denominator, using class

resentment instead of getting serious like a president should. >> i'm not sure i agree with that. >> i'm sure you don't. >> david brooks writes this in "the new york times." "under the permanent campaign shimmy, the president identifies a problem, then he declines to come up with a proposal to address the problem. then he comes up with a vague but politically convenient concept that doesn't address the problem, let's raise taxes on the rich. then he goes around the country blasting the opposition for not having as politically popular a concept. then he returns to washington and congratulates himself for being the only serious and sub standive person in town. sequestration allows the white house to do this all over again." so what are -- i mean, we saw steny on the set yesterday, bringing up some really good ideas. what are some of the republicans' substantive ideas in terms of cuts that they have put on the table, that they have gone to the white house and presented to the president and said, you know what? we'll negotiate. we don't really want to talk

about taxes anymore, but closing loopholes makes sense. but here are the things we need out of this. >> well, i mean, paul ryan put it on the table, and democrats killed him for two years. >> no, no, what are they talking about now to avoid sequestration? >> you know, both sides -- both sides -- both sides are standing on the lawn of a burning house, and they're arguing about who started the fire instead of trying to put the fire out. >> we tried to get change cpi, and harry reid took it off the table. and the president claims he wants change cpi, but is harry reid more powerful than barack obama? >> that's a good question. >> no, it's not. no, harry reid is not a more powerful guy. but i do agree in the end, if the president will stop demagoguing, and if he'll stop running a presidential campaign, a permanent campaign that david brooks is talking about, al, i think you're right. i think the president, at the end, may actually make some

decisions that will upset his own base, change cpi, on hopefully -- hopefully he won't take paul krugman's position and say we'll worry about medicare in 2025 when it starts to melt down. hopefully he'll be a little more responsible than that. i think he will. >> yes. >> but the problem, i think, goes back to mika's point. in all of the attacking the president, he has a plan on the table. you can say is demagoguing. the revenues that he's putting on the table from the taxes add up. the republicans have just come back saying, we're not putting revenue on the table, but they have not come up with a counterproposal. they haven't even shown up. the problem with the david brooks problem is the sequence of events. we set up sequestration to stop this so that -- saying this is so drastic, we'll never do this. we're seven days away from doing it. and i think that we've got to deal with the reality that the republicans are going where no one thought they would ever go

including at the risk of national security. >> we need to get to hagel, but joe, isn't a negotiation where nobody gets exactly what they want? and are you all saying -- not you -- are the republicans saying, well, because we didn't like the last negotiation, we're not going to play fair on this one? we refuse? come on. come on. close some loopholes and then let's get some spending cuts. >> again, the republicans did something they haven't done in a quarter century. >> what's that? >> they agreed to raise taxes. that ain't nothing. so they make this huge step -- no, it's been the center of the debate for four years. and liberals have been talking about raising taxes for 25 years. you asked. i'm going to answer. >> okay. >> and so for the first time in a quarter century, republicans agreed to raise taxes. and what the president proves is what a lot of conservatives have long suspected. that he was going to raise taxes, and then he'd never come

forward with cuts. he'd ask for more tax increases. and then you'd have people like paul krugman saying you know what? we need to raise more taxes, and we don't have to worry about entitlement programs. and any sane, rational human being knows are going to melt down ten years from now, 15 years from now. nancy pelosi follows up by saying a country that's $16.5 trillion in debt doesn't have a spending program. we've run -- >> spending problem. >> -- a spending problem. we've run deficits of over a trillion dollars for four years running, consecutive. and so suddenly democrats have decided, you know what? we've got the republicans on the run. we don't have to be responsible. we'll continue to run this permanent campaign. and we won't come forward in good faith with substantial cuts. and i agree with the president's balanced approach. i agree with the republicans' balanced approach. that's where americans are. close the loopholes, but give us the cuts. the president and democrats

refuse to do change cpi and a lot of other things that would be responsible. >> and danger number one is sequestration goes terrible for the economy. danger number two is they do a tiny little thing to avoid sequestration, kick the can down the road again. every time we kick the can down the road, we're not doing anything about the $3 billion a day that gets added to the defic deficit, number one. number two, we haven't seriously considered the second ten years. everything is the first ten years. it's the second ten years, and the only way you get money in the second ten years is to do serious entitlement reform. >> and what i don't understand about the president's position is -- let's put up what happens with sequestration again. we lose 750,000 jobs, lower economic growth by over half a percentage point. we have the last quarter, the economy was upside down. and the economics of this is terrible as well, mika, because let's say the economy continues to slow down.

>> right. >> well, that just increases the deficit and the debt. deficit in the short run. the debt in the long run. the projections in the long run. so why doesn't the president step forward and do more than just conduct what david brooks says, a permanent campaign? by the way, mika, there's one president, there's one -- i would love for him to show some leadership on this instead of just taking cheap political shots. i think he's running -- i think this is about 2014. i really do. i think he's decided -- >> it could be. >> -- he's going to destroy the republican party, and that's his decision. >> well, they're doing a good job destroying themselves. >> you know what? if the president were interested in doing something other than destroying the republican party, he'd be sitting down, and we wouldn't be in yet another crisis. >> that's like looking at a burning building and saying i'm going to light a match and burn that building down. the republican party is definitely responsible for their problems at this point. and let me answer your question with a question. the republicans lose either way. if sequestration goes into

effect, this is going to be on them. at this point -- >> no, it's not. >> -- why don't they go to the table and get something from him? >> i don't think it's going to be on the republicans anymore. >> he will give. >> no. >> well -- >> the history books are going to show this president -- david brooks who, by the way, was one republican that the president read all the time because brooks was a moderate, reasonable republican. david brooks is writing right now what historians are going to be writing when president obama leaves the office. >> steny hoyer -- >> he's in a permanent campaign showing absolutely no responsibility on this issue. >> -- to put cuts on the table. let's hear from a republican. >> what about the president? you're saying steny's doing a great job. you know, if the president had said that yesterday on al's show, i would be throwing confetti this morning. but he can't do it. he can't be responsible. he can't be himself. >> but where are the republicans? >> where are they? >> i have not heard one republican say let's put loop

sho loopholes on the table. >> change cpi. that's fine. and republicans have said that. >> joe scarborough is the republican that -- >> that is brave enough. >> -- saying something rational. i would hope that those republicans watching you this morning would come forward and say, we agree with joe scarborough. we're not saying -- >> listen. so let's do a little experiment. everybody in the senate gym exercises watching this show, and they say that. >> oh, yeah, looking good. >> you guys could do me a favor and look me more powerful than i actually am. actually, that's hard to do. but if you could just put out a press release saying we support chain cpi. >> before the fiscal cliff, you say harry took chain cpi off the table. but mitch mcconnell was quoted as saying it's okay to take chain cpi off the table. i would have held in there on the fiscal cliff and not kicked the can down the road again. so i think al's point. >> john boehner has 60 to 70

people in his party who are holding this whole thing hostage. >> there's one president. >> it's true. >> we can keep blaming him. >> okay. >> that's correct. >> and by the way, you can -- as ed knows, you can take a big old truck and run over 70 -- 70 congressmen? that's like one ant. if you're president of the united states -- >> i don't think they like that in the gym. >> no. i was one of those people. and i saw, when bill clinton and a republican leader decided they were going to stomp on 70 of us -- you just get out of the way. and there were usually about 70 conservatives that usually got rolled. but we'll see. i'm sure this is all -- >> still ahead on "morning joe," the moderator of "meet the press" -- i like it when alex gets rough in the control room in my ear. he just yelled at me. i'm going drive him crazy. all right.

moderator of "meet the press" -- >> paul simon. >> that didn't sound like alex, david gregory, secretary of housing and urban development, shaun donovan with the latest on the housing market. that will be good. also historian douglas brinkley. and later, "new york times" film critic tony scott will be here with his oscar picks. that will be cool. and up next, inside this morning's "politico playbook" including how some republican governors are providing a lift for president obama's health care law. >> rick scott out of florida. >> yeah, that's big news. >> who would have ever seen that coming? >> well, makes kind of sense, actually. >> hospitals. >> hospitals, connection with the hospitals. >> we'll talk about later, al. these republican governors that are opting out of it are leaving a lot of really poor americans outside the hospital doors. >> that's true. >> give me that. first here's bill karins tracking the major winter storm. bill. >> this friday is a very busy morning. roads are a mess from areas of wisconsin all the way back down to north carolina. and this is just storm one.

storm two will hit new england saturday night and sunday. as far as the worst of it goes, i think minnesota, northern wisconsin around green bay and also michigan. watch out for that freezing rain right now in indiana and ohio and a little icy weather, too, in virginia. that will be trying to arrive in d.c. shortly. as far as the snow goes, it's ended in chicago. milwaukee, looks like you are done. a little snow starting now in detroit. and minneapolis, we're going to continue to give you a couple more inches of snow. so that's the snow portion of the storm. the east coast today, not looking too bad. clouds will be on the increase. rain in the southeast. that will be the story as we go through the next 48 hours. heavy amounts of rain, too, especially down in georgia, in atlanta. looks like the worst of it will be just south of the atlanta area. and then as far as saturday's forecast goes, that's when we'll start to watch some of that snow breaking out further to north. as of now it's not looking like a big, huge snowstorm for southern new england. but if you're north of the mass pike into northern new hampshire, that's where we could be dealing with issues. again, we'll have updates on that weekend forecast including

the snow coming. the snow that was in chicago looks like it's about to end. just flurries left. you did pick up around three or four inches. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. with the spark miles card from capital one, bjorn earns unlimited rewards for his small business.

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time to take a look at the "morning papers." "new york times," lawmakers in at least six states have proposed requiring additional insurance for gun owners. states like california, maryland, new york and pennsylvania may require people who purchase firearms to also purchase liability insurance. similar to the requirement for car owners. legislators hope it would be a financial incentive for safe gun behavior. >> great idea. >> "the dallas morning news," the flu shot is only 9% effective when it comes to

protecting older americans. it has been a brutal flu season. a higher number than usual for hospitalization of seniors. still researchers say some protection is better than none. >> "the reno gazette journal," giant goldfish are starting to show up in waterways across the u.s. university of nevada-reno -- oh, my goodness -- researchers started finding these four-pounders in lake tahoe beginning in 2006. and since then, their populations have grown. where do they come from? there's no explanation, but researchers believe aquarium dumping may be to blame. that's terrible. >> i kept feeding them in n out burger. and on the cover of this week's "parade" magazine, funny man seth mcfarlane. he's going to be hosting sunday's academy awards. i don't really get that, mike. do you get that? >> he's a funny guy.

>> is he? >> that's a tough job, but he's a funny guy. i don't know whether the taste level will be acceptable. >> he might be -- is he punching above his weight there? >> i don't think so. i don't think so. >> who would you say, joe, is the best host ever? >> oh, that's easy. james franco. >> you think james franco? >> i'm joking. he was stoned the entire time! >> i thought no one could compete with johnny carson. >> letterman was good. i think he only did it one or two years before they yanked him. >> letterman was fantastic. no, johnny carson was the best by far. james franco, just to see a runaway beer truck careen wildly off the road. that was -- who shows up to the academy awards stoned? >> james franco. >> james franco. you are correct, sir. >> let's go to "politico." >> stoned. >> i'm a little worried to even check. patrick gavin with us with the

"playbook." >> he's a wreck. >> it's not 4:20 yet. a couple more hours. >> more republican governors are moving to expand medicaid, a major component of the president's health care plan. this is big news. >> it is. >> why are they doing it? >> well, if you am when the supreme court passed obamacare, they gave states the option but not requirement to expand medicaid in their states. and a lot of republicans -- or i guess folks who didn't agree with obamacare were hoping that through the states that's sort of how they would chip away at obamacare and kill it. that does not seem to be happening. especially when you hear news of rick scott from florida agreeing to expand medicaid. why is that important? not only is he a republican, not only is in the important state of florida, he's been one of the biggest critics. rick scott is realizing what a lot of other republican governors are seeing in states like north dakota and ohio are realizing which is that the politics are really hard to not do it. you not only have a lot of groups representing low-income republicans, you have a lot of religious groups to expand access for low-income americans,

when the economy is the way it is. and the reality is even if you don't expand it in your state, that doesn't exempt your state from paying these federal taxes. so it is very much a collective action issue where if you don't -- just because you're not going to do it in your state doesn't mean you're not going to help subsidize other states. the politics for republican governors around the country to not expand medicaid is very difficult. if you saw rick scott do it yesterday, i think you'll be not surprised to see other republican governors do it as well. >> obviously, al sharpton, a lot of pressure on a conservative like rick scott, just say no to all that money. you offend just about everybody. you offend the hospitals, but you also offend a lot of swing voters and say, wait a second. the federal government is going to give us all of this money to take care of the poor? and you said no to it while we're paying for the other 49 states to do the same thing? >> no, and it didn't make sense when scott was saying he wasn't going to do it. and brewer and others. and i think that they've just come to the reality, you cannot

turn down this money. the president, in terms of this package, was right. and they've had to make 180-degree turn. i think they're doing the right thing now, but it was right when they were saying they were not going to do it. they're just catching up to the needs of their constituents. that's what they're supposed to do. >> patrick gavin, thank you. >> have a good weekend. coming up, we dispatched louis. which i think it inaccurate. i think he just took off on a bender to the academy awards. as you can see, a total waste of money. >> louis bergdorf in l.a. >> the kid's a mess. we'll get a look at sweet lou's preview of the oscars as he looks in every mirror he can find at himself. >> we're going to be talking about "lincoln," i think an odds-on favorite and also talking to tony scott of "the new york times." [ kitt ] you know what's impressive? a talking car. but i'll tell you what impresses me.

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all right. the academy awards are this sunday. and our oscars correspondent, louis bergdorf, what is wrong with him? who does he think he is? >> he's every correspondent. last week he was our cooking correspondent. a couple years ago, venereal disease correspondent. there's a different one every week. now academy awards. >> he sent in this dispatch from

hollywood. >> mika, i know how difficult it is to get you to go to the movies. this year i'm going to save you the trouble. i dispatched myself to hollywood to screen every single oscar-nominated film. i promise you, you will not be disappointed. the oscars. the glitz and glamour of hollywood on display for all to see. featuring the entertainment industry's biggest names all sharing a single stage to honor a year in achievement. it's a ceremony known to create a few memorable moments of its own from the halle berry kiss to marlon brando's famous no show. memorable firsts for martin scorsese and kathryn bigelow and feel-good moments from the "good will hunting" boys from boston and a director who showed us "life is beautiful." this year's also sure to make history as hollywood celebrates its best year ever, pulling in more than $10.8 billion at the box office. >> bond. james bond. >> the belle of the ball is without a doubt "silver linings playbook."

bradley cooper and russell both picked up nods, cooper's first nomination. >> he hasn't put it on screen yet. >> you stumble upon certain things in your life that you never expect, and for me this was one from the beginning when i first played this character. >> reporter: "silver linings" is set up for a big night, becoming the first time in 31 years to grab nods in all four categories joining "bonnie and clyde, a streetcar named desire and "network." >> i'm as mad as hell, and i'm not going to take this anymore! >> reporter: "lincoln" leading all films with 12 nominations. steven spielberg is looking to take home his third golden statue for directing, having previously won for two other historical dramas, "saving private ryan" and "schindler's list." >> i had always wanted to do something on lincoln. i hope lincoln never stops knocking around in my head. >> reporter: daniel day-lewis's

portrayal as the 16th commander in chief. jessica chastain picked up her second oscar nomination for her role as maya in kathryn bigelow's controversial film "zero dark thirty." it's this 9-year-old, the youngest actress ever nominated by the academy, who is ready to steal the night away from her fellow nominees. >> who the man? >> i'm the man! >> reporter: all eyes will be on the ben affleck sunday night who was snubbed by the academy for his work directing "argo." while he won't get a chance to take home best director, "argo" is the odds-on favorite to beat the field for best picture which could make for a true hollywood ending. >> if i can even execute in a basic way on this, this would be the best thing that i've ever done by far. >> reporter: mika, screening those films, it really took it out of me. looks like i'll have to take a couple extra days out here to recuperate. back to you guys in new york. >> all right. coming up on "morning joe," the editor in chief of buzzfeed, ben

smith. also "the national review's" bob costa. and up next, the man who eats, breathes and sleeps, work smarter, not harder. >> oh, i like that. harvard's bob posen is back with us with more must-hear tips for any executive on how to work less and accomplish more. it's really like dieting. >> i like it. >> a diet fad. the capital one cash rewards card

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i've always had to keep my eye on her... but, i didn't always watch out for myself. with so much noise about health care... i tuned it all out. with unitedhealthcare, i get information that matters... my individual health profile. not random statistics. they even reward me for addressing my health risks. so i'm doing fine... but she's still going to give me a heart attack. we're more than 78,000 people looking out for more than 70 million americans. that's health in numbers. unitedhealthcare. but that's dinner. >> we find out that ann hits a deer with her car. and mika asks, is the deer okay? >> your mom used to bring home road kill. >> that's what i'm saying.

did you bring the deer home? that's a waste. that's a waste. >> so mika's mom actually ran into a deer. >> well, no, she didn't hit it, but she saw it get hit and knew it was fresh. >> right. and split it with the farmer. >> and brought it home. >> brought it home. >> sandwich? >> no, she actually saved it for dinner. pamela harriman over. >> you don't waste good meat. >> road kill. >> obviously ann hasn't learned that yet. >> with us now -- >> just left it there? >> look who we have. she should have been a lot more productive, mika. >> i know. really, you've got -- time is money. time is money. joining us now, senior lecturer at harvard business school, senior fellow at the brookings institution and former chairman of mfs investment management of fidelity investments, robert posen. he's back with more advice for us from his book, "extreme productivity." "boost your results, reduce your hours, lessons on high

performance from an executive." >> mika said it sounds like one of those diets. work less, be more productive. for you, it's all about ordering, prioritizing. >> yes. i think everyone has to figure out what your high-priority stuff is. just write it down. write down the three or four things you want to get done this week. the three or four things you want to get done this year. and then you've got to figure out how to get all the small stuff out of the way. and one of my best suggestions is something called ohio. only handle it once. we all are overwhelmed by e-mail. we get hundreds of e-mails. and so the key is, when you see that e-mail, discard 80% to 85% of them right away. >> really? right now while we're talking? >> that's right. exactly because you can tell that this is just something you get every day. some solicitation. something that's really worthless. but the other 15%, answer it

right away. right then and there. >> does e-mail make us more productive? because the thing that i always loved about e-mail ten years ago is, you know, you respond to somebody quickly. you're like okay, you know what? i can respond to them in five seconds instead of sitting on the phone for five minutes. >> that's true. >> but then a response feeds a response feeds a response. >> with three people copied on it. >> feeds a response. i just wonder -- >> it's like most technology. it's got potential for great increases in productivity, but if misused, it's going to reduce your productivity. one of the things i urge is never hit the reply to all button. really think about whether you need to reply to someone else. we all get caught on these reply to all. >> i need to get that straight. >> she makes that mistake especially when i blind copy. >> and then i reply all. >> another thing is don't send an e-mail that just says "thank you." because that's -- show your thanks by not sending the e-mail saying thank you. >> but e-mails come in, like,

100 times an hour. >> that's why you've got to really be tough with yourself and discard most of them. you can tell just from the subject matter, it's a hit cal solicitation, something you get every day. but the key thing is, the things that are important, you need to answer right away, not put them into your holding pattern because before you know it, you'll have 200 or 300. >> you talk about the problem with perfectionism. >> right. >> perfectists want to be perfect on all tasks. and sometimes there are tasks that are less important. you sort of spin your wheels. >> right. >> you say, you know what? don't try to get an "a." get a "b" plus. >> that's right. lots of us have to file status reports or things that come every week or every month. the people who are reading it, your audience doesn't want a ten-page exegis on this subject. if you spend time to do the ten-pager, you've just wasted your time. the key is to figure out what does your audience want?

do they want a-plus work or "b" work? and in things like status work, all they want is "b" plus work. if you're spending more time, you're wasting it. >> i think men are better at this. i think women need to learn to be less perfectionists, spend less time being perfect and just get it done. that's what guys do. they hand in "c" work and then talk about it. >> or just throw away assignments. >> exactly. >> al, you've got a crazy schedule. you work around the clock, seven days a week. how do you prioritize? >> i mean, i think he's right. i write out -- i don't do it weekly. i do it daily. the three or four things that i need to get done, and i try to remain focused on that. so between the television show, the radio show and national action network, i would go crazy if i tried to do all the minute little things. you have to set priorities and you have to be disciplined enough to stay focused on. and you check off. did i get this done? did i get this done? because you'll find yourself, if you don't do that, having

achieved a whole lot of nothing, and not achieving the main things you need to get done. >> and i like your approach of every night, reconsider, which things did you do, and which things didn't you do? and then you move it forward. >> i think for somebody wanting to be productive, i think the key here is you said something at the very beginning. i almost interrupted you to underline it. but al just did it for me. write it down. >> right. >> write it down. i'm not an organized guy naturally. and the only -- i started succeeding when i started writing my goals down. and like you, i was me naniacal. i knew if i didn't have a piece of paper -- in fact, when i was in congress, the only thing that worked for me -- again, because i'm so disorganized in nature, i said, what's my one goal for the year? and then i backed it up. what's my goal for each quarter? then i backed it up, what's my goal for the first three months inside that quarter? and that's the only way -- there

was one organizing principle, and it fed into everything. but that would have never happened if i hadn't written it down. >> you're right. and here's another exercise that i suggest in "extreme productivity." write down your goals and then take your average week and see what you spend your time on, how much time you spend on meals, sleep, how much time you spend commuting. how much time you -- how many hours a week are you spending for your four top goals? >> this is very important for mike barnicle because you've got fantasy baseball, right? sitting in the car in the back seat sleeping. >> central park. >> central park bench. >> walking through central park and finding a bench. >> might be overdoing that. >> do you have a pie chart that breaks it down? >> i write down all these goals daily. i write down what time i'm going to the park, what costume i'm going to work, whether camouflage will work. what games will be on that particular night and what trades i want to make in fantasy baseball. i write that down every single day. every single morning.

>> here's -- >> a better life than us, i'll tell you what. >> here's the interesting thing. i've done this for a lot of audiences. i've never found one where they use more than half their time on their top-priority goals. almost all of them have less than half their time on their priority goals. >> wow. >> and people really struggle with that. they don't realize how hard you have to work to stay on those top goals. >> it's work. >> it is work. >> it's a constant challenge. all right. thank you so much. it's always great to have you here. >> thank you very much. >> "extreme productivity: boost your results, reduce your hours." bob pozen, thank you so much. coming up, historian douglas brinkley will be here. we'll be right back. [ male announcer ] you are a business pro. executor of efficiency. you can spot an amateur from a mile away... while going shoeless and metal-free in seconds.

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they say all you're going to do, biden, you and the president, you're going to deny law-abiding citizens their rights under the second amendment. not true. they say assault weapons -- they say assault weapons like the ar-15 are needed for self-protection and recreation. they are not. there's plenty of ways you can protect yourself. and recreate without an ar-15. they say it isn't about guns.

they're wrong. it is about guns. no law-abiding citizen in the united states of america has any fear that their constitutional rights will be infringed in any way. none, zero. >> welcome back to "morning joe." a live look at the white house on this friday morning. time to get going, everybody. mike barnicle, ed rendell and al sharpton are still with us. sorry about that. i hear it was kind of worse than just bumping the deer. tell her i'm sorry. that's horrible. and joining us from washington, moderator of "meet the press," david gregory. hello, david. >> hey, good morning. >> what a handsome man. >> he is a good-looking guy. >> that was the vice president in connecticut yesterday. >> yep. >> to our top story now, we're just one week away from those automatic cuts that will slash $85 billion from government spending. the congressional budget office estimates the sequester, as it's

called, will cost 750,000 jobs and lower economic growth by 0.6%. it could mean longer lines at the airport, less funding for teachers, and cuts at the pentagon that officials say could hurt national security. still, the white house and republicans remain locked in a stalemate over how to deal with it. yesterday president obama called house speaker john boehner and senate minority leader mitch mcconnell, but neither republican leader has any appetite for new taxes, something the president says should be a part of the deal. the president spoke with reverend al sharpton yesterday. take a listen. >> my sense is that their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations, and they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down a recovery over closing tax loopholes. and that's the thing that binds

their party together at this point. this is a major argument, obviously, we've been having for the last three years. unfortunately, i think republicans right now have been so dug in on this notion of never raising taxes, that it becomes difficult for them to see an obvious answer right in front of them. >> i'm confused. because the president says republicans can't see obvious answers in front of them. we raised taxes, didn't we? i'm confused because he said republicans are so dead set on never raising taxes. the president -- what was it, a month ago? two months ago? david gregory, help me out here. we already raised taxes, right? >> hold on, david. we did raise taxes, but the republicans walked away from the spending cuts that they were offered. so it was their choice to only raise taxes. >> no, no. harry reid specifically said -- and we all remember -- regardless of how the white house spends this, harry reid said that chain cpi was dead. the president backed off. proving that harry reid is more

powerful than washington, d.c., than the president. >> david, is that how it happened? >> look, i think what's remarkable about this process is, as the president said over the last three years, at various points both sides were willing to do more. the president wanted more revenue at various points than he's now asking for. john boehner was willing to offer more in revenue than he's willing to do now. the president offered chain cpi at some point and is not backing it now. i mean, that's the folly. that's what's absurd about the process is at various other points, they were willing to do more. you played that vice president biden clip. i think the president's in a position where he's saying i have not only won re-election, i have won this argument over fiscal policy and over the economy, and republicans, if you want to hurt the economy, the blame is going to go on you. when he was with the reverend al yesterday, that's all he was doing, making the political argument about how to blame the republicans for this. i don't see where the break comes from right now, honestly,

except get right up to it and find some way to do it, maybe more flexibility to make the cuts but do it in a more flexible way. that's the only break i see. >> so you agree, i think, with me, if you don't, tell me. and david brooks this morning is talking about this president is not acting the way presidents usually act. you said traditional presidents go through a normal set of motions. they identify a problem. they come up with a proposal to address the problem, they try to convince the country it's the best approach. but under the permanent's permanent campaign shimmy, he declines to come up with a proposal to address the problem. then he comes up with a vague but politically convenient concept that doesn't address a problem. let's raise taxes on the rich. then he goes around the country blasting the opposition for not having as politically popular a concept. then he returns to washington and congratulates himself for being the only serious and substantive person in town.

david -- >> yeah, so here's what i believe. i believe that what the president has done is sort of incomplete. he wants to take on republicans to do what's very difficult for them when it comes to taxes. but had it comes to entitlements, he's much more limited. he's not going to push democrats on retirement age, on -- he's introduced chain cpi, you know, basically a downslope for benefits over time. in the last battle, but he's not doing this here. so right now his feeling is i'm going to keep up a permanent campaign. i'm going to go to the american people because i don't trust republicans as partners. >> right. >> in this discussion. >> and that is maybe in part because, david, the president did put out a plan back in december that involved cuts and $4 trillion in deficit reduction, if you go on the website. that plan's still on the table. and it doesn't seem to be taken seriously. in fact, they're accusing him of having no cuts. and that's just not true. >> but mika, i think -- >> but i think that is also

true, mika, that there was a plan out there. some republicans say there wasn't any plan at all. but this is what, you know, the fact is that the argument kind of keeps shifting. and this is where, i think, the white house has completely lost faith that they've got somebody to really negotiate with. >> but david, i think that a political executive, whether it be a mayor, county chairman, county commissioner or a governor or a president, has to sell to his base first. if the president had his base lined up to do chain cpi and some gradual over 30 years increase in the medicare age limit, boy, i think it would be easy to get revenue out of the republicans. infinitely easier, and i think we could have a big deal which mike and i agree, the big deal if we announced it would cause the economy to explode. >> exactly. >> it would explode. but the president doesn't stand up to his base. he attacks republicans who have been so dumb politically over the past four years that they're perfect straw men.

and that's fine. it's great for him politically, but it doesn't get us any closer to a deal. >> let me ask you a question, governor. before you were governor, you had another executive position, your first executive position, you were mayor of philadelphia. you came into the mayoralty, and the city was in tough shape as a lot of cities are today. what did you do when you got in there? was one of your first things not that you didn't tell people the truth about the existing condition? >> the very first thing i did it, and i did it for a solid year, in fact, six months going back into the campaign is tell people just how bad the situation was, that we had to cut everything, that if we did it right over the course of time, we could replenish those cuts and grow and grow and grow. and fortunately that's exactly what happened. but the first thing you've got to do is convince your supporters to get on board. and i think he could do it. he's popular now. >> so are you saying he should be talking about cuts and different things that he's offered to the republicans to his base?

>> first he should talk to harry and nancy. he should bring them in and say, you were there -- >> come on, guys. >> you were with me on health care. you've got to lead on this. >> pelosi certainly didn't sound like she agreed with really being realistic. >> he's got to get the two of them on board first. >> i think that's fair. >> i think it's important we, again, let's deal in the context of where we are. the sequester was set up saying that we'll never -- we'll never get here. >> we'll never have to do this. >> this will never happen. we'll do such drastic cuts -- >> this would force us to work together. >> right. now we're acting like the sequester was some arrangement that the president and the republicans was supposed to negotiate on. secondly, the president put major cuts on the table. and when we went through this in the beginning of the year, cuts in health care. he put cpi on the table. all of which is still on the table. he cannot negotiate with himself. all the republicans do on their way out the door for vacation or

recess is say revenues cannot be discussed. he never got all of the revenues we needed. so i think that we've taken the whole thing out of context. we're acting like the sequester was a negotiation when it was something we were supposed to be avoiding, and they will not in good faith deal with the cuts the president has put on the table. some his base, including me, disagree with in terms of cpi. and they're saying oh, don't talk about the rich. the rich never really paid its full share in the first place that he was asking for. we're talking about loopholes. we're talking about yachts and jets here. >> i mean, what's -- loopholes, i mean, is that so difficult? >> right. and republicans have been for them before. >> right. >> so, you know, whether it was on the campaign trail, paul ryan and mitt romney or whether it's boehner. so i don't understand why that's such a big problem. but again, both things are true. if the president's having a hard time negotiating with house republicans, house conservatives over taxes, you know, it's

because they're dug in. they don't feel like they can move for a variety of reasons. but he's not trying to negotiate with his own base over raising the retirement age for medicare. >> i hear all the time, david, the president doesn't trust the republicans. why should the republicans trust the president? i mean, again -- >> and they don't. they absolutely don't. >> they did something that is so hard to do. a lot of them voted for tax increases for the first time in a quarter century. and they thought by doing that, they would take this tax-the-rich argument off the table. and you've seen the president barnstorming like he's in the middle of a presidential campaign talking about the rich. talking about those big old mean corporations. we've got to get more money out of them. and if you're a republican -- >> there was a lot more revenue on the table before. >> right. >> simpson-bowles had a lot more revenue on the table. it wasn't $600 billion. >> i've got absolutely no problem with closing loopholes. in fact, i'm more aggressive on closing loopholes, i would guess, than a lot of democrats that are running for election in

2014. but if you're president of the united states, as david brooks says, you've got a responsibility to do more than just barnstorm around the country in a permanent presidential campaign. that's why i'd say okay, even knowing that i support aggressive closing of loopholes for rich people that are paying 15% rates, which i think is immoral, when their secretaries are paying 28%, even having that position, if i'm negotiating with the president, i don't move on that until he shows a little good faith. like you said, to go to nancy pelosi and harry reid and at least let me know that i've got a partner that's going to negotiate in good faith. i just don't see it with this president that's running around, you know, talking more about taxing the rich, taxing the rich. >> and joe, isn't it the reality that we are not really headed -- i mean, somehow this is going to be resolved, whether it's by next week or, you know, how they fund the government next month. there's going to be some way to

resolve this. but aren't we headed on a path where we're really not going to make meaningful gains on reducing either the deficit or the debt? because we can't come to any agreement in washington about the role of government to spur economic growth, how much it should spend, or, you know, the balance between taxes and spending. >> you know, the frustrating -- the depressing part about this, perhaps the most depressing part about it -- and david just pointed out part of it -- is that all of this in the minds of i think a lot of people, it's a game. it's a political game. it's part of a constant campaign being played in washington. your base, my base. and at the end of the day, the president of the united states, his base is the country. it's not just the democrats. it's not just nancy pelosi and harry reid. it's the country. and the country has endured pain. the country has endured sacrifice. middle-class families, they know what it is. i mean, the payroll tax being eliminated. cost of gasoline, cost of groceries. they know what pain and sacrifice is.

and apparently people in washington don't recognize that fact. accept it. >> reverend al, you talked to the president yesterday. do you get a sense that he is in search of a deal? that he really will meet republicans halfway? >> i honestly get the sense that he will meet them halfway. and he is in search of a deal. he's won his re-election. i really don't think this is about, with him, 2014. i think this is about 2012. i think he feels he's obligated to people that voted for a certain way to move forward. but he wants to try and meet halfway with the republicans because we're going to see people suffer. we're talking about people losing jobs, being furloughed. national security. i don't think he wants to see that happen, but he can't negotiate with himself. and i think the cuts are on the table, cuts that he told us straight out, a lot of you are not going to like, but i'm putting them on the table. where are the republicans? and i think that we don't need them to come in the night

before. we need to deal with this and get this off the table of america. do you realize that if we have meat inspector that are laid off here, joe, that will raise the price of meat. not the price of republican meat or democratic meat. everybody will suffer here. and i think that we need responsible leadership on both sides. >> so, okay. when you spoke with him, did he bring up chain cpi? because i know he had been for it before, and then he backed off of it, took it off the table when harry reid said that they weren't going to support that. >> he said, when he had put on the table remains on the table. this is his meeting he had with civil rights leaders. remains on the table. cpi was among those things that he had put on the table. and he said that some of us were going to be opposed to it. he does not back down when he's meeting with those of us that are considered his base. he was very clear. he said, i'm for the going to paint a rosy picture for you. but at the same time, when he

gets beat up by some of us that say how can you do that, he's beat up on the other side as saying he's not being reasonable. some of us feel he's being too reasonable. nothing is enough. >> al, sometimes if you're an executive, you know you're doing your job when you're getting beat up by both sides. >> but the problem is that the other side at least should come to the table and say, let's talk about this. >> i agree. >> all right. so -- >> i want to find this table that everything's on. >> yeah. i'd like to see. because i get the feeling it's two different tables. >> come next friday your neck will be on that table. >> david gregory, thank you. who do you have coming up on "meet the press"? >> we'll be talking to governor deval patrick and bobby jindal and the state of politics in their respective parties. and we'll offer the latest on where this is headed with just a few days left by sunday. still ahead on "morning joe," it was one of the hardest times in american history. now a newly unearthed novel

gives us a clear picture of the men and women who lived through the dust bowl through the 1930s. historian douglas brinkley joins us in just a few minutes. and up next, secretary of housing and urban development, shaun donovan. plus bill dare inkarins will ha update on the nasty weather bearing down on the east coast. you're watching "morning joe" brewed by starbucks. ♪ [ jen garner ] what skincare brand is so effective... so trusted... so clinically proven dermatologists recommend it twice as much as any other brand? neutrogena®. recommended by dermatologists 2 times more than any other brand. now that's beautiful. neutrogena®. ♪

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here with us now from chicago, housing and urban development secretary, shaun donovan. and cnbc's brian shactman also joins the table. good to have you both, brian, to have you back. so first of all, let's get a sense of the state of the housing market as it's going right now. there is some movement, right? >> absolutely. just about all the things you care about in the housing market

have done well over the past year. home sales, home prices up between 5% and 8% in different places around the country. housing construction has been leading the recovery. lots more construction jobs coming back on. and in some ways most importantly what got us into the crisis, the number of families fallen into foreclosure losing their homes is down to the lowest level since we've seen before the crisis began. so all of that is good, but there's more we can do to accelerate that. and that's why the president called for universal refinancing, for example, in the state of the union where the average family could save about $3,000 a year if congress can move a bipartisan bill on this. >> front page of business section of "the new york times," "despite aid borrowers fill face foreclosure. despite the banner numbers released on thursday, thousands of homeowners are still not getting the help they need to save their homes from foreclosure." and it goes on and on to name some pretty large numbers of

people who are desperate for help. >> yeah, look. the good news here is that we've cut the number of families falling in foreclosure by half -- more than half. and you know, i was on the show a year ago announcing this historic mortgage servicing settlement that we reached 49 bipartisan attorneys genest year ago. yesterday we announced that we had reached $46 billion in help. we thought we might reach, like, $35 billion for the entire country for the whole settlement. this is just in the first nine months, over 550,000 people. and the good news there is for the first time we're really cutting people's -- the balance of their loans permanently. on average reducing them by over $80,000. so that is real progress. that's been part of what's moved us forward. but we can accelerate this. we can do more. and it's unfortunate about these discussions about sequestration is while we're focusing on this battle, we could be doing more. the president laid out plans in

the state of the union to help the hardest-hit communities. we could excaccelerate and do m principal reduction. but we need to focus on those things and get those done this year. >> mr. secretary, in terms of the foreclosure crisis and renegotiating mortgages for people, how much, if at all, of an impediment are fannie and freddie in this process? >> well, look. there is no question that the president and i disagree with the position they've taken. we think that if you cut somebody's balance on their loan to a level that they can afford, not only is that good for the homeowner, it's good for the housing market and their neighborhood. it's actually good for the people who own the loan because what it's shown-- and we've proved this with what we released yesterday -- that folks stay in the homes. they keep paying. and you're actually more likely to recover if you're an investor in that loan. so we're going to keep making that argument and keep pushing for fannie and freddie to do

that. >> brian? >> two questions, really. "the new york times" really focuses on this relationship between the first mortgage and the second mortgage, and it basically comes out and says they're trying to funnel more money, the banks are, toward the second mortgage because it benefits themselves and they can still be in trouble with their first mortgage. i guess i'd want you to explain that a little bit. and do you see that happening? and the second one is do you still have this moral hazard issue where you're helping people, and to what degree do they also need to be accountable for some of their decisions, and how does that balance itself out? >> well, first of all, on this issue of first and second mortgages, you know, it's funny. a year ago when i was on the program, the criticism was that these banks were going to cut the first mortgages that belonged to somebody else and not cut their own second mortgages. now some people are saying well, they're doing too much cutting of the second mortgage. look, here's the fact. those second mortgages are real debt for people that are struggling. we set rules that said, look. if this is a mortgage that's unlikely to be repaid, we're

only going to give you 10 cents on the dollar credit for those mortgages. these banks aren't getting away with anything by cutting delinquent mortgages. and in fact, we have requirements that say, you only get credit for cutting these balances if you can show that that homeowner is still in the home 90 days later paying and making -- being able to make a go of it in that home. so i'm very comfortable that we're getting a good balance of second liens and first liens because, look. the truth is, when you look at who's under water, over half of what is putting people in america under water today is these second liens. so if we're not getting to that problem -- and that's directly on these banks' balance sheet, it's real pain to them to cut these second mortgages, if we're not dealing with that problem, we're putting our head in the sand. >> with those second liens, isn't that where you get into some personal debt maybe and home equity lines? that's where it gets a little fuzzy, i guess, for us. >> what we are looking at is

only second liens on the homes. these aren't personal lines of credit or other things. and again, we have a strict requirement, and we've been monitoring this closely, that when you do these principal reductions, it has to help that family stay in the home. >> right. >> for at least 90 days to be able to get any credit for it. so we know that this is making a real difference in people's lives. >> all right. secretary shaun donovan, thank you very much. and thank you, brian. >> my pleasure to be with you. up next, a major winter storm is barrelling across the midwest right now, dropping near record amounts of snow in some parts of the country. bill karins has an update on the storm's path next on "morning joe." joo [ shapiro ] at legalzoom, you can take care of virtually

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washington, d.c., union station. a little bit of a breeze out there. you may even see a little sleet or rain throughout the afternoon in d.c. nothing that will cause you any trouble on the roads. all that problems are out in the midwest. good news, kansas city airport is officially reopened finally after the big storm yesterday. they had their most snow they've seen in 20 years. this was an historic storm for kansas especially. that snow this morning is up there in wisconsin. and michigan's getting it pretty good. careful driving around lansing, flint and detroit and also around grand rapids.

they've had freezing rain from cleveland to columbus, ohio, too. not exactly enjoyable there. here's what we'll deal with. that storm leaves. a new storm forms and heads north into new england saturday night into sunday. especially sunday morning would be the heaviest snow. the pink shading, 6 to 12 inches possible. mostly talking from the mass pike northwards, southern vermont, southern portions of connecticut. once you go further to northern new england, the amounts are a little less. let me give you specifics on the cities. not really thinking new york city's going to get much, if anything. maybe a tiny bit of snow on the tail end, but no accumulations. hartford, minor ordeal at one to three. same for providence, albany to boston, looks like you should be remaining snow at the backside of this storm. three to six. temperatures are not as cold as the last two weekend storms. this will be a heavier, wet snow. we're a little concerned with power outages especially southern portions of maine, new hampshire and right there in northern massachusetts. so again, not as big as the last two storms that we had, but again, impacting you in new england sunday morning especially.

and as we go throughout the forecast for the weekend, mika, all eyes also on california. for the oscar forecast. and that on sunday calls for sunshine and 68 degrees. so no problems out there in la la land. >> good, louis will have a very good time, then. thank god. i was so worried. bill, thank you very much. let's get some other stories in here. >> oh, yeah. >> going around in circles on taxes. despite growing calls for his nomination to be withdrawn, the math is getting better for chuck hagel to be confirmed as defense secretary, perhaps as early as next week. although some lawmakers are softening their criticism. tough opposition continues on capitol hill. >> yeah. >> in a letter, 15 republican senators urged for hagel to withdraw his nomination including marco rubio and ted cruz. the letters read, in part, "while we respect senator hagel's honorable military service in the interest of national security, we respectfully request that you withdraw his nomination. it would be unprecedented for a secretary of defense to take office without the broad base of

bipartisan support and confidence needed to serve effectively in this critical position. ted cruz at it again, with respect, with respect, with respect. in the last 50 years, no other secretary of defense has been confirmed with more than three members voting against him and in the entire history of the position, no one has been confirmed with more than 11 no votes." >> that's sort of circular logic. you could make that argument. democrats could do that to any republican. if we just get 20 or 30 against a guy or a woman, then we can say, well, i don't know. you know what's more interesting, mika? let's put up the list again. can we get the list of those republicans that said they're not going to support him? you mentioned, too, younger republicans. the one that stands out to me is actually dan coats who served with -- dan coats served with chuck hagel, i believe he did. or maybe he was ambassador to germany. i'm just surprised that dan coats is on that list.

>> outside political circles, people are wondering is this just taking the usual resistance a step further, or is this real legitimate resistance that could actually put this in jeopardy? >> listen, i think it's legitimate to have real concerns about chuck hagel with his performance on the hill. >> i agree. >> i think that's fair. >> i agree with that. >> i support him. i hope he's a good sec def. >> he definitely has the resume. >> i just generally believe you defer to presidents. i just generally -- whether it's a democratic president or whether it's a republican president. i was really deeply offended by what democrats did to john tower back in -- what was it -- 1989? >> yeah. >> i thought that was a witch hunt. i thought it was disgusting. i thought it was sickening. and as a republican, as a conservative, i was outraged by how democrats treated john tower. and absolutely delighted that instead of john tower, they got dick cheney.

but this is -- it lends, though, that is a great lesson in washington where democrats thought they were hurting the republican cause by stopping john tower. >> right. >> because he had too much of a good time. of course, bill clinton was elected president three years later by these same democrats. but they got, because they were so harshly partisan, they got dick cheney instead. >> well, but -- >> and history was forever changed. >> don't you think this is bad timing for the republicans? >> yes. i think it's terrible. >> it adds to this narrative that they're difficult? don't you need to pick your battles at some point? just stop. >> and that's my point. republicans should defer to the president. >> and look respectful. >> chuck hagel is a bad secretary of defense, if he what many people are predicting, the republican version of les aspen. >> given the nature of politics, the way it's going to go is 80 years from now when the republicans finally win the presidency, they are going to --

the democrats are going to extract revenge for the way the republicans behaved to a chuck hagel. >> that's what i don't understand, ed rendell. these parties act as if the status quo is always going to exist. these republicans -- and again, i'm not going to mention the guy's name anymore because he doesn't deserve it. let's just say certain young senators that just got elected act as if history began the day they got elected. >> right. >> and they don't realize a republican is going to be president one day again. and democrats are going to hold the republican to the same standard that certain young republicans are holding this democratic president to, and that's not good for america. >> and in that vein, i think our guys blew a big opportunity, joe, to do filibuster reform. >> oh, i know. >> they had a chance. if we had done filibuster reform, chuck hagel would be secretary of defense right now. >> why didn't harry reid pick that up? i wish he would have been

aggressive and done -- >> there will be a day when. >> yeah. the shoe is always on the other foot. so what do you think? what do you think, mika? about chuck hagel? >> i think they're being ridiculous lly obstinent and pu things on the table that really matter right now. this is going to happen. so it's just silly. thank you, marco rubio and ted cruz, lindsey. right. okay. up next, american folk singer woody guthrie best known for his song "this land is your land" composed music that defined a generation. now a new book by guthrie that was previously believed to have been lost has been unearthed. historian douglas brinkley and woody guthrie's daughter, nora, are here with the novel "house of earth." that's when we come back. hi. hi.

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♪ california to the new york island ♪ well -- >> welcome back. with us now, the daughter of folk singer woody guthrie and head of woody guthrie publications and archives, nora guthrie. also, historian douglas brinkley. >> hi, douglas. >> who co-wrote the introduction to nora's father's novel, "house of earth," written 66 years ago but just being published now. and douglas, we came in with, of course, that iconic song that some people believe that this novel is a companion piece to that. >> yeah, in many ways, the story of "house of earth," woody wrote it after experiencing the dust bowl. and john steinbeck wrote about the okies trying to find a

living after the crops were destroyed and livestock was dead after the dust bowl. woody stayed in texas panhandle and said what about the people that stayed? and that's what "house of earth" is about, people that want to stay on their land. and he recognized that big timber was in cahoots with the banks and that you could actually build an adobe house like in new mexico and live much cheaper and not have to be owned by the banks. so he started promoting adobe living to texans. and this book's about a couple that raises a family and just wants to own their own piece of land, the land should belong to you. here in new york, he wrote "this land is your land" that we just heard, right here in the city. >> so nora, this book has been called the authoritative statement about the plight of the rural poor. >> really? >> yeah. he understood it. talk about how this was unearthed and also about the cover art, which is absolutely fascinating.

>> it was written 66 years ago? >> yeah. >> and why did no one know about it, or what happened? what's the story? >> my excuse for myself is that he wrote so many things in his lifetime, over 3,000 songs that we've been working with for the last 20 years, really. so there's just an abundance of material. and it's just hard to get your arms around all of it all at once. so luckily, douglas actually is the one who tipped us off about this novel. my father wrote novels, poetry, prose. he did a lot of artwork in addition to all the lyrics. my head was kind of focused on lyrics for the last couple years. and douglas kind of called one day and said, i heard there's a novel out there. and actually, i had never heard of it. i was kind of surprised. >> so talk about the novel, why it's so important, douglas. >> well, you know, the dust bowl, we might be heading into a drought time now. you know, look at with climate change and the forests burning every summer, temperatures going up.

what happened -- what fdr had to do to confront it with just the dying of the great plains and just how people suffered. i mean, it's unbelievable when you really read about it. and people were getting dust pneumonia. woody guthrie was in a shack in the panhandle putting a rag on his mouth to breathe. and he documented it in his songs. he's our nation's great balladeer. this is the dust bowl novel, experiencing what it was like in realtime. he wasn't someone who heard about it or read about it. he was the dust bowl. his ballads live on and continue to influence everybody. >> how did you discover it's this novel that his own daughter didn't even know about it? >> that's a good question. historians are detectives. and i had interviewed bob dylan in europe. and dylan loved -- almost worshipped woody guthrie. and doing some research -- >> he emulated him.

at the beginning of his career. >> absolutely. >> he pretended. >> the first album he wrote a song called "song for woody," which is a classic piece. i ended up finding a letter from allen loemax that said i'm going to drop everything i'm doing because i've read a couple h couple chapters and it's going to change things. then a kind of hunt went around looking for it. ended up finding it. and i should add they're building a museum for woody guthrie this april, they're opening, in oklahoma. >> really? >> woody guthrie museum. >> where in oklahoma? >> tulsa. >> tulsa. fantastic. >> when you first read this, what did you think? i'm just noticing there's a lot of sex in it. you warned me about that. it's like -- >> he went for it. >> oh, my gosh! >> actually, that's exactly what i did. i went, oh, my god! dad! >> dad? >> dad! >> i mean, i can't -- i would

read this except i can't. out loud. >> you mean on the air, right. >> oh, my goodness. >> well, you know, woody was very free in his writing. he was probably the most unself-censored writer in his lyrics and in his novels. so here you go. this is what they did out there in the dust bowl. >> yes. >> there was nothing else to do. >> nora, let me ask you. you know, unfortunately our culture today, people learn about things, history, historical sector from television. ken burns' great, great documentary on the dust bowl is just a vivid reminder of what happened during that period of time. your dad wrote "this land is your land," about six blocks from here. >> he also wrote this. >> okay, mika, put it down. >> if you read the book -- >> oh be still my heart. >> one of the reasons, joe, the novel never got published in

that climate of the '40s, you could not have published this. >> the guy's writing this in the '40s. >> sorry, go ahead. >> ignore her. >> let him go. >> if you read the book, once you get past the first 30 pages, the book is about what happened when big farms, corporate farming, takes over people's lands. it's what happens when big banks, even then, you know, screw people out of their lands. what was -- when did you get a sense, or did you, your dad being, like, way ahead of his time in recognizing social/cultural political dilemmas that affect us today? >> well, it's funny because i grew up with everything you just said. it's kind of part of -- it's in my genes, you know. so i was kind of educated by my father's friends who were always around. we had led belly and brown mcgee, jack elliott, tons and

tons of musicians. and all of these songs, folk music tends to be about what's going on in your life. at the bottom of the lyric, "this land is your land," my dad wrote "all you can write is what you see." and that's kind of his m.o. so i kind of grew up with all of this education. but in song form. so i knew about the dust bowl before i was in high school. you know, where they didn't even teach it. so there was that kind of, you know, education. it wasn't really until i was grown up when i kind of went out into the world and realized that not a lot of people knew the stories that i had learned. but i learned it through music. not through -- >> it's interesting, though, is it not, that songs, woody's songs, seger's songs, dylan's songs, springsteen's songs, are history? >> absolutely. and i think my father was one half journalist. that was really his style of writing. and we got such an education just from the songs that were

around us. like the dust bowl daal lballad. you mentioned ken burns' documentary. when i saw that, i couldn't believe how accurate my father's songs were. >> yeah. >> i went back and i went, that's not poetry. that really happened. when he sings "dust pneumonia blues" pneumonia blues, what douglas was talking about. and then ken really illuminates what he's talking about in "dust bowl blues" and i was stunned at how accurate my father's songs were. >> he wrote for newspapers a lot, woody, and so he'd go see those camps in california. >> did you know she passed out? >> you got to fan her now and cool her down a little, joe. >> it's unbelievable. >> nora, nora. >> talk about the cover. it's a fascinating story. >> woody would paint, and when

he went to new mexico, and when we hesitant to santa fe, he fell in love with the adobe structures. a gentleman in colorado owns this. >> he actually wanted to be an artist when he was a young man. he did a lot of oil paintings and things like that and then it got too expensive. he couldn't afford the brush or canvas, and he realized that you could go into a saloon for five cents, someone would throw you a nickel and feed you, and if you sang a song, that was the way he could make a living. but this one, it was kind of how the stars all come together. this painting happened to be one of two oil paintings that still exist. he did one of lincoln that still exists. it's down in the smithsonian, and he did this one of adobe paintings. so when it whole project came to fruition, i said to the publisher, i said there's one existing oil painting my father

did, happens to be of an adobe house. >> the book is "house of earth," nora guthrie, and douglas brinkley. thank you. >> thank you so much. >> it was fun. >> coming up next, we got bob costa. they join us. you're watching "morning joe," brewed by starbucks. we're going to keep talking, mika, about how we avoid the sequestration. alec, for this mission i upgraded your smart phone. ♪ right. but the most important feature of all is... the capital one purchase eraser. i can redeem the double miles i earned with my venture card to erase recent travel purchases. and with a few clicks, this mission never happened. uh, what's this button do? [ electricity zaps ] ♪ you requested backup? yes.

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good morning. it's 8:00 on the east coast, 5 a.m. on the west coast, as you take a live look at new york city. it is friday, but it is time -- you have to get out of bed. it's time to wake up. >> not gonna to do it. >> back with us on set, former governor ed rendell and the reverend al sharpton. >> let's go through news. there's a lot going on. >> yes. some of the country's largest

retailers and manufacturers are lowering their forecast, concerned over the economic impact of the payroll tax. the wall street journal reports that they are participating a downturn in sales. sister citygroup, the 2% tax increase will take out approximately $1,300 of a household income of $65,000. it's expected to take $110 billion away from consumers. walmart is responding by stocking shelves with lower amounts of products. burger king is dropping prices on the whopper jr. and shifting advertising to the value menu. >> it is one of the most important inventions since the polio vaccine. >> okay. >> mike, you've got both parties

that are so blinded to the realities. their ideology blinds them. you've got republicans saying we're going to cut everything right now, sequestration, it's going to slow down the economy. the president is running around because he only knows to ask for higher taxes. we've got to raise more taxes. it's the rich, it's the corporations, tax, tax, tax. democrats don't seem to understand that taxing americans dampens the economy, hurts small businesses, hurts a lot of americans. republicans don't seem to understand that massive unfocused cuts right now are going to slow down the economy and hurt americans too. >> you seriously have to wonder whether anyone in washington, in the house, in the senate, in the white house, administration, republican, democrat, do they ever go outdoors.

do they ever see what happens to everyday ordinary americans. people who have been getting crushed economically for the past 10 or 15 years are getting crushed again. the payroll tax has been eliminated. have you checked out the price of gasoline over the past couple of weeks. this is a killer for people who work hard every day just to stay even, never mind get ahead, never mindset something aside for the future, for the weekend to go to the movies. they get crushed. >> you know why washington doesn't get that? because they live in this bubble where they're constantly fighting a permanent campaign. they look at their laptops, they read their ideological bloggers. >> this is true. >> they are focused here, and they live in this world instead of understanding, reverend al, that when gas prices go up, when the payroll tax cuts go away,

when spending from washington is cut like that in an unfocused way, when taxes go up, all of this works together against them being able to take care of their families. >> no, i think the reality is that they are in this ongoing campaign from one campaign to the next. the thing that is so stunning to me is that when we have elections, they just go right to the next campaign. they act as though we didn't just vote about this in november. >> yeah. >> and america rejected some things and accepted others. and i think there needs to be a balance. but everybody starts from so far in extreme camps that it's hard to get this together. >> you talked to the president yesterday, right? >> the president -- civil rights leaders met with him and he did my radio show yesterday. and i think the president, his position, which i happen to agree with, no surprise to you,

is that he did do some cuts, but that they do not want on the other side to deal with more revenue from the higher echelon or the higher income earners in the country. and when you've got the head of the house, the speaker saying we're not putting revenue on the table, where do you even get started with this conversation? and we're seven days away from sequester. >> let's take a look at, we can take a listen to part of your interview with president obama yesterday. >> my sense is that their basic view is that nothing is important enough to raise taxes on wealthy individuals or corporations, and they would prefer to see these kinds of cuts that could slow down our recovery over closing tax loopholes. and that's the thing that binds their party together at this

point. this is a major argument obviously we've been having for the last three years. unfortunately, i think republicans right now have been so dug in on this notion of never raising taxes that it becomes difficult for them to see an obvious answer right in front of them. >> can i be frustrated here for a second? is that okay with a smile on my face? >> mm-hmm. >> where's he been? has the president been vacations for three months, four months? where has he been? >> he was on the phone with speaker boehner. >> i don't understand. when republicans folded and raised taxes for the first time in 25 years, i asked on this program, so what are democrats going to do now? because they've been saying we need to raise taxes on the rich for a quarter century. so they did. republicans folded. the president got what he

wanted. he won. and so now we get to go to cuts. now we're going to figure out because the president's never told us where he's going to cut over five years. now we're going to figure out how we're actually going to get some real cuts. and ed rendell, he's talking about tax increases again. tax increases, that's all he's got. >> simon had a song called "one trick pony". >> that's all he's got. tax cuts, tax cuts, tax cuts. this guy right now sounds out of touch. >> or else he's trying to restore some balance. >> number one, the sad part about all this is there's been a plan for a while that will get us out the of this in a fair and balance way, and that's simpson-bowles. and alan and erskine came out with simpson-bowles 2 on tuesday. >> you support that right? >> sure. we support it very strongly.

remember, joe, this fairness to the president, he called for a package to include $1.2 trillion in revenue and about $2.6 trillion in cuts, almost 2 1/2 to 1 in cuts. he got 650 in revenues. so his position would be i still need to get up to that $1.2 trillion. >> i'm just saying he leads though. his advice is always it's the rich people. those rich people. >> really? >> by the way, i say on this show all the time, i support closing tax loopholes. >> everyone should. >> but i'm also talking about sacrifices that all americans are going to have to make as far as spending cuts go. but he goes on the campaign trail and he says, oh, it's the rich. it's the corporations. >> he was for chain cpi. he still says he's for chain cpi, and chain cpi hits our

people. >> there's going to be a lot of grief there. in the meeting yesterday, he came up to us and said to us civil rights leaders that things were not going to right. so it's not like he's just playing one side here. but i think the governor's side is important. he did not get all he wanted from the rich. we're talking be the the republicans saying let's maintain loopholes for yachts and private jets as opposed to -- i mean, james brawn had a song too called "the big payback". it's time they paid back their share. >> did he refer to entitlement programs? >> all of that is on the table. but he says you've got to start with revenue. >> i'm not hearing that. and i suppose if i heard him talking about the serious decisions we had to make on long-term debt, on medicare, on medicaid, on social security, on national defense, he's running around sounding like donald rumsfeld trying to defend the pentagon. it's like don't cut a single

thing but i'm going to go out, i'm going to keep talking about rich americans, i'm going to keep talking about corporations, i'm going to play to my base instead of talking, telling middle class americans they're going to have to make some sacrifices along with the rich. mika, it's a permanent campaign. and i guess if this is how he wants to run things, he's president of the united states, good luck over the next 3 1/2 years. >> i don't understand why loopholes are even on argument, first of all, why he has to go this far, why he has to keep talking about it. >> hold on a second. >> i know. >> we all agree that these loopholes need to be closed. >> let's do it. why is it so hard? >> i've been talking about supporting warren buffett's idea of having a 30% minimum tax. >> why are we still talking about it? >> because the president only uses it to demagogue, in a permanent campaign, he never talks about the other side of it. he always says it's the rich. >> that would be loopholes. >> don't tax you, don't tax me.

tax the guy behind the tree. >> steny hoyer stepped up yesterday. >> he did. >> he talked about entitlement programs, about getting to the point where you have to address the issue of cutting entitlement programs. you're not serious about reducing the deficit and the debt unless you talk about that. >> and thomas friedman in "new york times" also had a column in weekend that said we have got to stop stealing from the next generation. we have got to stop robbing nursery schools for nursing homes. it's what we've been doing, it's what we're going to continue to do. alan blinder, i go back to the princeton economist who said democrats are wrong on this. we cannot tax our way out of the entitlement crisis. >> well, i don't think that's what the president's saying. >> that's all he's talking about, meek. that's all he's talking about. let's tax the rich. that's going to make everything better. hey, is your back a little sore?

it's the rich folks' fault. i just want to put this out on the table really quickly. >> mm-hmm. >> my position on taxing the rich probably is far more, let's say, progressive than most of the democrats that are going to be running for senate in 2014. i doubt they will embrace my idea of a 30% minimum tax rate. so it's not that, mika. it's that he is in a permanent campaign. he's playing to the lowest common dominator, using class resentment instead of getting serious like a president should. >> i'm not sure i agree with that. i'm going to read from david brooks in the new york times. under the permanent campaign shimmy, the president identifies a problem, then declines to come up with a proposal, then he comes up with a vague concept

that doesn't address the problem, let's raise taxes on the rich. then he goes around blasting the opposition. then he returns to washington and congratulates himself for being the only serious and substantive person in town. sequestration allows the white house to do this all over again. so what are -- i mean, we saw steny on the set yesterday bringing up some really good ideas. what are some of the republicans' substantive ideas in terms of cuts that they have put on the table, that they have gone to the white house and presented to the president and said, you know what, we'll negotiate. we don't really want to talk about taxes anymore, but closing loopholes makes sense. but here are the things we need out of this. >> i mean, paul ryan put it on the table and democrats killed him for two years. >> no, no, no. what are they talking about now to avoid sequestration? >> you know, both sides, both sides, it's as if both sides are standing on the lawn of a burning house, and they are

arguing about who started the fire instead of trying to put the fire out. >> we tried to get chain cpi and harry reid took it off the table, and the president claims he wants chain cpi, but is harry reid more powerful than broadcast obama? >> that's a good yes. >> no, it's not, no, harry reid is not a more powerful guy. >> coming up on "morning joe," we'll preview the biggest night in hollywood. tony scott will be here with his oscar picks. also his understudy. our own louis bergler. >> louis is back from hollywood. up next -- >> behind the scenes video of because people like watching stupid reality tv and we will see that. >> and coming up next, "the new york times" has dubbed him the boy wonder of buzzfeed. >> ben smith. editor-in-chief of buzz feed

joins us. also robert costa. first here's bill karins. >> has anybody ever accused bill karins of being a wonder boy? >> no. >> never wonder boy. other things. good morning, everyone. the big winter storm that dumped one of the top storms in wichita history is exiting. minneapolis, also in areas of green bay, northward up to michigan. back towards detroit, this is a little worse than we thought. already a couple inches in a few stops. cleveland, dealing with freezing rain and sleet. other story going on is heavy rain the next 24 to 48 hours. around pensacola, panama city. that's going to extend up into georgia. this area's pretty wet so we're going to see some flooding concerns. that will turn into a storm that will head up into new england. the worst of it more or less northern new england. southern new england, more of a

rainy mess for you. hartford, you'll have to shovel. here's my snowfall total. manchester, new hampshire, possibility 6 to 12. albany, new york, 3 to 6, boston, 3 to 6, and a lot less from hartford to new haven, new york city. the other thing going on this weekend, southern california, the oscars, it looks like a really nice forecast, and by the time we get to sunday, 68 degrees and sunny. i think the ladies in 68 and sunny, you'll take that. the other nice spot, our friends on the today show, struggling down there in the shun shine and beauty of what is miami beach. enjoy a great weekend. [ woman ] ring. ring. progresso.

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live look at the white house on this friday morning. 20 past the hour. joining us now, editor-in-chief of buzzfeed, ben smith is back and writer for the national review online, robert costa as well. >> a lot to talk about. just to follow up to the last conversation, the white house says they've done everything they can. they put out specific budget cuts, sequestration cuts. >> yeah. >> republicans of course, i guess, bob, republicans also passed a couple of bills. >> back in may they passed a bill and in december they passed

a similar sequester replacement bill. but the white house says it's not balanced. republicans say at least we put something on the table. what are senate democrats doing? the problem republicans have is in the cloak room. republicans are nervous. they're telling me they don't want the sequester to happen. they represent the defense industry, military people. >> so what are they going to do? the president has talked at chain cpi, and you get the sense he talked to al sharpton and some others saying he's going to put that back on the table. if the president puts chain cpi on the table, that's significant. >> i think the time frame is so short. if you want to have a real discussion about entitlement reform, clugood luck trying to it in a week. >> so we have a deadline again where there's nothing able to get done because there's nothing substantive? >> that's the story? january, february, march.

>> so at what point do they sit down and look at both sides? >> both sides say nothing happened. this is washington today. both sides don't really want to budget. >> i think obama, i think basically the republicans have a set of internal politics where they think for their internal purposes, mitch mcconnell's purposes in kentucky doesn't make sense for them to make a deal and president obama is looking at the broader politics. he thinks he can win again. >> you look at the numbers. the polls are on the president's side. the president understands if he doesn't get a deal and you have these massive cuts, you've got an economy that's upside down right now, i don't think he wants to take that risk, does he? >> mika was talking about fake deadlines. the economy's not going to

collapse on march 2nd. we went over the fiscal cliff and nothing happened. certainly the american people don't buy the idea that some massive catastrophe will strike. if you've been ignoring the entire fiscal cliff conversation, you kind of won because you didn't miss anything. and i think the public thinks that's what's going on too. >> and bob, the white house doesn't want sequestration. >> both sides. >> i've been talking to them and they want to avoid it. they think it's terrible for the economy. you're saying republicans in the cloakroom don't want it. >> the problem for republicans is this. they felt like they got burned during that fiscal cliff. they let some of the bush tax cuts expire and they thought they can't go to conservatives now and entertain the idea of resin or tax hikes. so they're saying, what does the president expect us to do? we're in a corner with conservatives and republicans. there's no chance of a deal that

includes revenue, and that's all the white house wants. >> but the white house so you would say they didn't get burned, they walked away from the spending side of the deal and just took the tax part. >> good luck making that argument in a republican tax meeting. that's a fair argument if you're looking at the big pictures. but republicans look at the politics in the party. they already felt like they did too much on taxes during the fiscal cliff. i think the sequester happens and somehow in the appropriations process down the line they try to fund some of the defense funding again. but beyond that, i don't know what happens. >> what do you think, ben? >> i think that's likely. i think obama hears republicans complaining about what's going on inside their caucus, and says that's your problem, not mine. >> i think the big problem for the president was, look, he's been fairly consistent, he started out wanting $1.6 trillion in revenue. he got $650 billion. so he still has almost $6 billion in revenue that he wants

and i think the country needs. if he's willing to make another $2 trillion in cuts, then he gives the republicans something to use as an excuse for doing the next level of revenue increases. how much do you pick up if you just do the buffet t rule? >> about $150 million. >> not the buffet rule but buffet's plan of the 30%. >> that's about $150 billion? >> about $150 billion. >> that's a step in the right direction. is there any american who makes under $1 million against that? nobody. so it's easy for the president if the president gives them real cuts. >> i think there's such distrust on the both sides. the republicans don't believe the president's going to step forward with cuts, and of course the president feels he's been burned time and time again.

>> i'm really looking for, you guys have both gone before voters before. when i talk to democrats on capitol hill, they're counting on it. when the sequester happens and they're a headline in your local paper about a three or four-hour wait in an airport. it's going to be like a government shutdown, the hysteria over the sequester. >> i don't know why we always lose these battles going back to the government shutdown in 1995, bill clinton vetoed one bill after another. one of the reasons he vetoed the bill, he just wanted to send a statement. i think the media and most americans, sort of their default position is anybody that's cutting must be harsh, must be on the wrong side. so we're in a terrible position, mika, we republicans, because if we meet the president on tax

increases and closing loopholes, the base turns on us. if we don't, we lose swing voters. michael gerson's talking about the party's bigger problems in the post today. >> we can go there. he says the end of a gop foreign policy, advantage during the cold war, a serious gap in candidate quality, the declining relevance of economic policies better suited to the 1980s, and an occasionally deserved reputation for being judgmental and censorious, republicans leaders have a choice to make, ruthlessly clarified by recent events, they can take the path of democrats in 19 88, or they can follow the model of democrats in 1992 and their own party in 2000, giving their

nominee the leeway needed to produce an agenda relevant to our time. very well said. >> bob, that's obviously michael gerson, george w. bush -- >> former speaker. >> speechwriter. >> republicans are going to have to get out of the box they're in, and they're in the box on this budget. >> and this week is a tough time to get all your soul searching done. sorting out your party's identity. so they were in the midst of that. their message is we're the hostage of these crazy people inside our party. that's a tough message to turn around next week and defend the sequester. >> somehow newt gingrich always used people like me as the crazy people in his party to leverage bill clinton to get deals done. i'm saying this as somebody called a crazy person repeatedly. republicans called us, i mean, they called us jihadists.

and newt gingrich and bill clinton used that to get a more center, middle deal. >> i think a lot of people look at the republican party and think there's all these extremists. i'm on capitol hill day in and day out. i think they feel boxed in by these fiscal fights. you look at eric cantor's speech, didn't talk about fiscal battles. it was about education, reaching out to families. republicans feel they're in this horrible situation where every week it's another budget fight. and they want to move on. it's not just about cleaning the party of certain elements. it's about getting to a new message. >> quickly, a couple of house-cleaning things. ben, how old are you? >> 36. >> you're a little old to be called a boy wonder. >> oldest living boy wonder. >> teenage sensation. >> i'll take it. >> that was a pretty good article. >> my mom loved it. >> i bet she did.

suitable for framing. look at this picture, he looks like a boy wonder. >> he is a boy wonder. >> and of course, bob, you broke the story, that there are second acts in american life. >> yes. >> mitt romney coming back to cpac. >> he's just been hanging out in his beach front mansion. >> did they finish the work on it? >> i think it's getting there. one thing about romney, he wants to engage in the national scene. he's a business guy. cpac, that's where he ended his campaign in 2008. >> gave a great speech. >> it was humble, it was real, and i think that actually catapulted him to the nomination in '12. his speech in february 2012 of course severely conservative, not a great moment. '08 moment he's remembers. >> i hope they've a great time.

ann romney, i think she was terribly misunderstood. >> she's great. >> thank you very much. next, open up the checkbook, red sox fans. the bloody sock being auctioned online. that's disgusting. how much would someone pay for a piece of history? shactman's with us next. ♪ for tapping into a wealth of experience. for access to one of the top wealth management firms in the country. for a team of financial professionals who provide customized solutions. for all of your wealth management and retirement goals, discover how pnc wealth management can help you achieve. visit pnc.com/wealthsolutions to find out more.

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all right. it's "business before the bell." cnbc's brian shactman. we've got a bunch of red sox fans here. >> we do. apple, by the way, we love our apple. how's the phone doing? >> well -- >> how about the watch? would you by an i watch? >> no. >> people are looking at the patents to see what apple's next move it. >> hey, brian. catch. oh, don't worry. it won't break. >> i'm not going to throw it to you. >> go ahead. across the studio. the worse thing is the battery would fall out. >> they think they'll have one of those snap-on bracelets.

searching through the patents. might be kind of cool. >> why? >> i don't know. let's go to the bloody sock. curt schilling's video came went belly up. he's got to sell the bloody sock from the 2004 world series game 2. i actually touched it yesterday, two days ago. i didn't touch the bloody part. >> ew. >> it's bidding it $60,000. >> if shilling weren't such a jerk, there'd be a lot more money going out there, right, mike? >> i'm not so sure if it has to do with jerkdom. >> but he has alienated his fan base. >> he's ail nailed every sports writer, but i don't think the fan base. i think they still appreciate the fact he tries to be honest. he's pretty good on espn. >> the curse is over, they won

the world series, and one three years later. i don't think it's going to get as harsh. >> coming up next -- >> derek low, if you ever go abrupt, give me a call. >> coming up next, film critic extraordinaire, joins us for the "morning joe" oscar preview. we'll be right back. but we can still help you see your big picture. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelity's analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next.

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okay. 40 past the hour. louis decided he's going to be our oscars correspondent. >> yes. >> the awards are in sunday. and louis sent in this dispatch. >> you went pretty boy to l.a.

>> dispatch from hollywood. >> mika, i know how difficult is it to get you to go to the movies. this year i'm going to save you the trouble. i dispatched myself to hollywood, california, to screen every single oscar-nominated film. i promise you, you will not be disappointed. >> reporter: the oscars. the glitz and glamor of hollywood on display for all to see, featuring the biggest names all sharing a single stage. it's a ceremony known to create a few moments of its own from the halle berry kiss. moments for martin scorsese, and the good moment for those good will hunting boys from austin. this year's also sure to make history as hollywood celebrates its best year ever pulling in more than $10.8 billion at the box office. >> james.

james bond. >> the belle of the ball without a doubt is "silver linings playbook." russell and star bradley cooper both picked up nominations, cooper's first nomination. >> i stumble upon things that you never expect and this was one from the beginning when i first played this character. >> "silver linings playbook" is set up for a big night, becoming the first film that grab nominations in all four categories, joining the ranks of "a streetcar named desire". i'm as mad as hell. >> reporter: "lincoln" is poised to stake home many. steven spielberg previously won for two other historical dramas. saving private ryan and schindler's list.

daniel day-lewis is also in prosecute of his third oscar for his portrayal of america's 16th commander in chief. >> she picked up her second nomination for role as maya in the film "zero dark thirty." but it's the 9-year-old actress ready to steal the night away from her fellow nominees. >> i'm the man! >> reporter: all eyes will be on ben affleck, who was snubbed for his work on "argo." "argo" is the in the field for best picture, which could make for a true hollywood ending. >> i thought if i could even execute in a basic way on this, this would be the best thing i've done by far. >> you know what, mika, screening those films, it really took it out of me. looks like i'm going to have to take a couple extra days to recuperate. back to you guys in new york.

>> with us tony scott. tony, i'm shocked louis said something in his package that was actually intelligent and illuminating. >> which thing? >> this is a record year for hollywood. we talk about every day on this show, all the great writings go to tv, but the movie industry's doing okay. >> the movies this year were pretty good. one of the reasons they sold so many tickets is they actually put out a lot of movies that people wanted to see, including movies that grown-up people wanted to see, not just superhero movies or fantasy movies. >> that's a great trend. do you have a favorite of the year? again, forget about what the academy's looking at, but just a movie that when you left, you say, wow, that one moved me. >> i think there were a few of them. one of them is "bests of the southern wild." i had heard a little bit about

its reception at sundance. >> and the writer, what's her name again. >> lucy alibar. >> north florida, came out of nowhere. >> and the director, a group of these film makers were down in normalcy working on short films and documentaries and put together in extraordinary movie. for me, that was the real discovery, the real rush. >> let's start with our picks for best picture. brian, who do you have? >> i mean, i hate to go to the house, i think "argo's" going to win. >> i don't know. mike? >> i selected "argo." >> you did too. tony scott. i've been wrong too many times in the past so i picked "argo." >> i picked "argo" if "silver linings playbook" isn't in the running. >> it is. i'm torn. i think bradley's going to win best actor. >> you think he's going to upset

daniel day-lewis? >> i do. you'd win a lot of money if you won that bet. >> if she wins. >> i know what you're saying but i think he spoke to people in that roll. >> incredible, incredible acting. >> finally, after all those other movies. >> if ben affleck had been nominated, would he have won? >> often they go together, best director. >> why wasn't he nominated? >> because the field of best pictures is bigger now. it's as many as ten. so mathematically there's always going to be people left out. >> what's joe's pick? >> lincoln. >> lincoln? >> daniel day-lewis was extraordinary. >> he was. >> the other ones out though, of course, les miserables, and amour. "les miserables," great movie, huh? >> some people thought so. >> good movie? >> it's a movie that for people who love that show.

>> nbc universal, just play along. >> he picked anne hathaway, right? >> i thought that les miserables was very effective. i have to say, for me i could not get past how much i hate that music. >> looking down those people's throats while they were singing it at me, i was weeping at the end, but for different reasons. >> just don't say it. >> i haven't seen that one. >> give us some other highlights from the year. "zero dark thirty," obviously very controversial, and i have a lot of my republican friends that went to see it, and i said, so, has it been excluded because it's a great film but it has -- they go, no, it's just not as good as your last movie. it's just not that great of a movie. >> i think it's a very good movie. i think the hurt locker is tremendous. and i hope more people have discovered that. that was the lowest grossing

best picture winner ever because nobody at that time wanted to see a picture about the iraq war. i think "zero dark thirty" is a very strong piece of film-making. i think the performances are very good. i think it has been hurt a little bit by the controversy, and it's always a little messy when you make a claim that well, we're making this claim, we've reported it, it's the truth, it's as accurate as we could get it, and then it turns out, people come out and say, well, no. >> in the middle of a political debate. >> yeah. >> and certainly a lot of progressives -- >> right. >> -- reacted reflexively to it, and hollywood, some would suggest is a center-left town. >> but it's also a very politically cautious town. i think one of the reasons that the academy may have backed off of kathryn bigelow and this movie is that too much controversy, too much bad feeling, too much ambiguity makes them very uncomfortable.

>> all right. best actor? >> i think daniel day-lewis. i think -- you know, it was a really good year. denzel washington was terrific. >> oh, that was a great movie. >> great performance. >> "flight" may have been my favorite movie of the year. of course like every red-blooded american male, i see the trailer and it's like, yeah, man, give me shelter, he's flying upside down, and i go in expecting this action movie. it's just the opposite and i'm so glad it was. when that thing ended, i thought -- >> there's so many good movies out there. >> i don't want to blow it, but it was a surprise. >> it really was, because it starts out as one thing and then it turns into this character study about a guy battling with his addiction, which is the kind of movie we've seen a lot of times before, but denzel washington brings so much intelligence, and he's so good at being charismatic but not

entirely likable. i think if daniel day-lewis wasn't there being the guy on the $5 bill -- >> tough. >> best actress, the choices? >> who do you like? >> i'm looking for a little of an upset here. i think it's going to be emmanuel riva for "amour". sunday is her birthday. she'll be 86. >> i've heard naomi watts is great. >> jennifer lawrence. >> wow, this is going to be interesting, tony scott. thank you very, very much. "morning joe" in just a moment. with the spark cash card from capital one... boris earns unlimited rewards for his small business. can i get the smith contract, please? thank you.

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on monday's show, legendary music producer, clive davis will be here for his new memoir. up next, what, if anything, did we learn today? today is gonna be an important day for us. you ready? we wanna be our brother's keeper. what's number two we wanna do?

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we've shared what we've learned, so we can all produce energy more safely. bp's also committed to america. we support nearly two-hundred-fifty thousand jobs and invest more here than anywhere else. we're working to fuel america for generations to come. our commitment has never been stronger. a hairline fracture to the mandible and contusions to the metacarpus. what do you see? um, i see a duck. be more specific. i see the aflac duck. i see the aflac duck out of work and not making any money. i see him moving in with his parents and selling bootleg dvds out of the back of a van. dude, that's your life. remember, aflac will give him cash to help cover his rent, car payments and keep everything as normal as possible. i see lunch. [ monitor beeping ] let's move on. [ male announcer ] find out what a hospital stay could really cost you at aflac.com.

. are you ready to go home, mike? >> i am so annoyed. >> all right. welcome back to "morning joe." it's time to talk about what we learned today. let's start with the annoyed mike barnicle. >> i learned that i should leave when i say i'm going to leave rather than having everybody in the control room tell me you can't leave. i've learned that you're a pain in the ass for making me stay.

>> look at them. >> i learned that mika doesn't think that dried blood on a sock is worth a lot of money. >> ew. ew. >> the thing i learned most importantly is when louis, when hollywood had a $10.8 billion profit and made some really great movies. >> for such a long time we've learned that the movie industry is dying and there's not a really good business model for it, $10.8 billion. plus again, hollywood will be the first to tell you, that's where we -- talking about soft power, our entertainment industry, hollywood. we spread the message across the globe just how crazy we are. what did you learn? >> i learned that there were a million things that didn't get done here on "morning joe" this week and now i know why. >> why? >> because lou